‘I’m now learning to appreciate my strengths’ – Claire Williams on her ‘proudest achievements’ in F1 and the inspiration of her parents

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we speak to Claire Williams, who left her mark in F1 both on and off track as one of two females to have led a Formula 1 team…

Across seven seasons running Williams, the team co-founded by her father Sir Frank, Claire Williams achieved 15 podiums (only two others – Toto Wolff and Christian Horner had a higher tally during that period) and twice guided her squad to third-place in the Teams’ Championship.

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To secure the squad’s future, the Williams family sold the team to private investment firm Dorilton Capital in 2020 – and that marked the end of the family’s 40-year presence in the sport.

When she took over the day-to-day running of the team from her father and became Deputy Team Principal in 2013, it was the culmination of a journey that began as Press Officer for Silverstone, the home of motorsport, and followed with her climbing the ladder at Williams from Press Officer to Head of Communications, Head of Investor Relations to Commercial Director and then finally Deputy Team Principal.

It was a role that had only once previously been filled by a woman – Monisha Kaltenborn was leading the Sauber team at the time – and one which she used to encourage positive change across the business.

“When I first started in this sport, there were very few women,” Williams told F1.com. “And most women who worked in F1 did the jobs women traditionally did - in hospitality, media and marketing.

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“As we got into the 2010s, a few women were coming into the design, engineering and aero roles. We had one in aero at Williams I think. So, when I took over the running of the team, Monisha Kaltenborn was at Sauber so we had one female in that position. There was a huge amount of interest, particularly from the British press, that there was another woman running an F1 team.

“In the early days, I never thought a whole lot of it. I gave Susie Wolff the opportunity to drive our car in 2014 and that got a huge amount of interest and Susie has gone on to do incredible things promoting women in motorsport herself.

“Around 2016, my interest in trying to promote women in motorsports ramped up as I had quite a lot of things happen to me in the three years of leading the team and I wanted to turn some of those experiences into positives for others.

“We started doing more to bring more women into engineering roles at Williams and encouraged women we did have in engineering roles to become STEM ambassadors and speak at schools to encourage the next generation.

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“Then when I got pregnant in 2017, after probably putting off the fact that I wanted to have a baby because I was running an F1 team, it was really hard. I thought to myself, ‘How was I going to do this?’ and I was the boss. Not many people at Williams had a baby – so it was treading new ground.

“We needed to create a better pathway for women so that it’s easier for them to start families while also wanting to work in F1. We started changing policies at Williams around maternity and also paternity. Then we ramped things up by creating the ‘Women at Williams’ network to educate and engage and create a better environment for women to thrive in our workplace.

“I became a Dare to be Different ambassador to support Susie’s programme. We really ramped up going to talk to schools with our STEM ambassador programmes. The gender pay gap was written off as I looked at every single woman’s pay and they were put where they needed to be put.

“When I took over in 2013, 9% of my workforce were female. When I left in 2020, 19.5% were female.

“That was because we proactively went and tried to encourage women to come in and create really great environment for women to work at Williams. It’s one of my proudest achievements.”

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'If it wasn’t for her, a lot of people say Williams wouldn’t have existed'

Much of Williams’ inspiration came from her parents Sir Frank and mother Ginny. Sir Frank’s role in transforming Williams into one of the most successful teams F1 has ever seen is well known, but perhaps less so is his wife’s part in that.

Ginny was Sir Frank’s rock, the person who always found a way in the very difficult times – when money was tight – to find a way to keep the door open so that her husband could focus on running the racing team, and the person who helped Sir Frank fight on after his car accident.

And that was all while bringing up three children – Jonathan, Claire and Jamie.

“So many people who will have known my mum would have known how amazing she was,” says Williams. “Her greatest strengths were her resilience and bravery, and if it wasn’t for her, a lot of people say Williams wouldn’t have existed.

“She was the real hero behind the scenes. There were a lot of incredible women behind the scenes back in those days that were there supporting their husbands going out and working in the crazy world of F1.

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“The beautiful Williams brand you used to see in the paddock in the 90s and 00s, a lot of that was my mum’s brainchild – the navy blue and beautiful flowers in the motorhome. She would make the motorhome look beautiful, which is maybe why I was always so obsessed with the motorhome, to make sure her house was in order!

“Everyone knows my dad and what he achieved, but he wouldn’t have achieved what he achieved without having my mum by his side.”

'I’m now learning to appreciate my strengths...'

While the final years of Williams’ tenure as boss were painful, with the team struggling for performance in an ultra-competitive field where most rivals’ budgets dwarfed those of the British squad, Williams achieved an immense amount of success both on and off the track across her tenure – and secured the future of each and every employee for the foreseeable. Does she ever allow herself to be proud of what she achieved?

“I never used to,” she admits. “Someone asked me what my strengths and weaknesses were and my brain immediately went to my weaknesses and I couldn’t think of any strengths.

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“I’m now learning to appreciate my strengths and to be proud of what I have achieved. I ran Williams, a legacy team in Formula 1, for many years. And as much as my last few years weren’t successful, five years of my tenure were very successful.

“Outside of Toto and Christian, I was the highest podium scoring TP in the sport for many years. I am really proud of that.

“It doesn’t sit comfortably. Pride is not a comfortable emotion for me. I’d much rather focus on the bits that didn’t go well as I think that’s where the greatest lessons are learned. I probably got that from my mum.”

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